December 11 2009 – Baltimore, MD – Baltimore-based music website Aural States (auralstates.com) is proud to announce Aural States Fest II, our second anniversary blow-out at Sonar Club Stage & the Talking Head on Saturday January 30th in Baltimore, MD. This will likely be the final year for Aural States to be based in Baltimore, and hence, the final Aural States Fest.

The line-up for this year includes a wide variety of acts from Baltimore and DC, crossing generational and genre boundaries:

This year we are proud to team up with our younger regional cousin Bmore Musically Informed (bmoremusic.net) to present our festival as Night 2 of the “Blogtimore PWNS” weekend. Night 1 takes place Friday January 29th, when a combination of Aural States Fest alums (Arbouretum, Wye Oak, Sri Aurobindo) and fresh local talent (Weekends, the Violet Hour) will play the last show ever at the G-Spot.

Tickets for Night 1 are $10ADV/$12DOS and available through missiontix.com. Tickets for Night 2 are $15 and available through sonarbaltimore.com. A limited supply of 50 double-header tickets are available for a discounted rate of $20 through (sonarbaltimore.com and missiontix), and will guarantee access to both nights.

I got a chance to pick his poetic brain, and romantic soul, for a while earlier this week. Don’t miss his show this Saturday at DC’s the Black Cat. It’s also the release party for his fantastic sophomore album, Come Back to the Five and Dime, Bobby Dee Bobby Dee.

Aural States: You got started in music relatively late compared to most people. Could you say a little about your experiences beforehand and what led you to writing music?

Benjy Ferree’s(Wiki) first album hinted at a promising future. He is one of a sizeable stable of musicians undertaking the fusion of a deep love of Americana with an unabiding passion for rock. Too often this leads to uninteresting and unsatisfying ends: pale imitations of rural folk, gimmicky and trite psych-folk meanderings…the list of mediocre iterations is endless. But the top tier of these artists are possessed of uncanny arranging ability, an ear for dynamic interplay between vocal and instrumental voices, and a unique alchemy that lends the music an unclassifiable quality that breaks the shackles of its influences.

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